WEYMOUTH – A 4-month-old puppy was safely returned to his owner after being lost for nearly two hours in the ocean.

Tuukka fell off a boat off between Bumpkin and Peddocks islands Saturday afternoon. After his owner alerted the harbormaster, a near hour-and-a-half search yielded no results.

Just minutes after the official search was called off, the puppy’s owner, Gillian Kirsch of Marshfield, received a heartwarming call.

“It was complete relief,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. It went from worst case scenario to best case scenario.”

Tuukka, a 10-pound black Shih Tzu-poodle mix, was spotted off of Wessagusset Beach by John Connors and son Charlie Connors, 15, of Weymouth.

“It was a rough day, the water was real choppy,” John Connors said. “Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little black thing splash. At first, I thought it was a bird with a broken wing. When we got a little closer, I thought it was a baby seal.”

As they reached the animal, Connors said his son realized it was a small puppy.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle,” he said. “It was like a needle in the haystack.”

Weymouth assistant harbormaster Bob Rupprecht and harbormaster Paul Milone led the search with the help of harbormasters from Hingham and Hull. After searching for about 90 minutes, there wasn’t a lot of hope for the dog Rupprecht now calls “Lucky.”

“There was nothing more we could do,” he said. “We figured he had drowned.”

He said the Connors are the real heroes.

“This is the first time we’ve ever had a successful rescue,” Rupprecht said. “It was just a family coming in from a day of boating. I don’t know how it possibly could have survived.”

Rupprecht stressed the importance of making sure dogs are wearing life jackets when in boats. Tuukka was not on Saturday.

Kirsch said Tuukka had just outgrown his previous life jacket, but he was sporting a new one Sunday when he was back on a boat.